We are back from a week at WDW - and I have to say that we had such a nice time! There is something so relaxing about not planning! I’ll get started on my report sometime today, but my dd is complaining that I’m 2 days behind in hanging up the Advent Calendar, so I better get started on decorating the house.

[QUOTE=llama;1096988]We are back from a week at WDW - and I have to say that we had such a nice time! There is something so relaxing about not planning! I’ll get started on my report sometime today, but my dd is complaining that I’m 2 days behind in hanging up the Advent Calendar, so I better get started on decorating the house.[/QUOTE]

Welcome back Janice! Deck the halls, then get started on the TR, so I can live vicariously through you!:laugh:

Well, we didn’t have enough points left to stay on property, so we booked ourselves into the Marriott Grande Vista. We’ve stayed there before and I honestly have to say that other than the convenience of staying onsite- this resort is every bit as nice as a Disney property.

We arrived very late on Friday night, and decided to take Saturday to unwind, and go shopping to get in a few groceries. It was still Thanksgiving weekend and we thought that the parks would still be crowded and our whole plan this time was to avoid stress. The trip was also a golf trip for Neil, so while he golfed 9 holes that afternoon I took a little nap. When he got back to the resort we went out to dinner at a little Mexican restaurant called El Patron. It was sort of behind the Crossroads Shopping Centre in a little shopping mall. Neil is no fan of Disney food - he thinks it’s over-priced. Lately we’ve had so many disappointments with Disney restaurants. This was a little family run place and it was terrific! The food was all family recipes, the Marachi Band entertained, the price was reasonable and Neil was happy. We took ourselves to bed quite early, because the MK was calling me.

Did I mention that Neil bought me diamonds (earrings) for my birthday - well, he got me some other diamonds too - a Diamond Parking pass! It was fantastic! With our annual passes we had free parking and the Diamond Parking lot was just steps to the T&T Centre - we were on the monorail in no time - and I was very excited to see that there weren’t too many people!

Have I mentioned that I am a Christmas decoration junky? That’s what this trip was all about for me! And I could hardly wait to see the decorations at the MK. Through the gates and on to Main Street and…WHERE THE HECK IS THE TREE? Why isn’t there a tree at the MK? There were lots of pretty decorations, but no tree. I discussed this with Peppertink - she was at a loss too…oh well…Main Street was still pretty!

I loved the Mickey’s on the lampposts - but all in all - the decorations were sort of underwhelming… No matter - with such small crowds we had a terrific time at the MK - on the Jungle Cruise we had the funniest CM ever. He made up all his own jokes. He had the whole boat in stitches. We did a few things we rarely do - like ride the Liberty Bell - and we did some things we always do…like stop in at Columbia Harbour House for our favourite lunch.

We did everything except Tomorrowland. Golf time again.:glare: Neil was golfing at the Grande Vista, so I used the time to wander around the resort, and put in a call to Peppertink! We made arrangements to meet at the Poly after their fancy-schmancy dinner at California Grill and our not-so-fancy dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. The Marketplace was crowded - but no where near the crowds in October. Neil had the spaghetti and meatballs and I had the salmon at Wolfgang Puck Express. It was really quite tasty. It’s certainly one of the best counter-services at WDW. After dinner we headed over to the Poly. Unfortunately R2G wasn’t feeling well - which kind of put a damper on their dinner at the California Grill, which was really too bad - but Pep was there to meet me in the lobby - it’s always so funny meeting up with MBr’s. You walk in, you look around sort of trying to see if there is someone who is sort of looking around too and you slowly approach and say…um…are you…Michelle?:redface: YES! You’re so relieved that you haven’t asked some stranger if they happen to be the Ferret-Whisperer and get weird looks. Well Pep is just the nicest! R2G’s sons were with her and they are extremely polite young gentlemen. We settled down in the lobby of the Poly for a chat. Naturally I forgot the camera! RATS! But let me assure you that Pep is sweet and pretty and has beautiful long dark hair and just the nicest person! I’m really sorry I wasn’t able to meet up with R2G too. (Pep - I’m so sorry I didn’t answer your text the next day - I didn’t take my phone with me and we weren’t back at the resort until late). So, after sayin goodnight to Michelle. we headed back. The end of a pretty good day. (although the Poly decorations weren’t that amazing either. Hmmm.:glare: Kinda disappointing me on the decor thing Disney.

Our plan for the next day was to drive to Epcot (Diamond Lot again - even closer), take the monorail over to the MK to finish off Tomorrowland, take the monorail around to the Grand Floridian to see the decorations and then carry on on the monorail back to Epcot for our 2:30 lunch at Rose & Crown and the Candlelight Processional. Worked out really well until we got to the MK - which was super-crowded. I swear I have given up trying to figure out Disney crowds. We managed to get in everything we had missed the day before, but by the time we finished up there was no time left for stopping off at the GF - ah well - the best laid plans of mice and men…We got to Epcot around 1 pm where it WASN’T crowded at all, and managed to do Living with the Land, The Living Seas with Nemo and take a few pics. The weather had turned cloudy and cold. We were just sitting down at our table at the Rose & Crown when the skies opened. We were glad to be inside where it was warm. I had chosen the R & C as part of the Candlelight Processional package. I took the latest ADR for lunch - so it was going to be sort of a late lunch, early dinner. Our server was Kate from Edinborough. Very pleasant girl. Our appetizers were good. I had the trio of English cheeses - an Irish blue cheese with candied walnuts, an English cheddar with apply chutney and a Stilton with onion jam. All were delicious. Neil had a trio of Cornish pasties which he really liked. The mushroom one tasted exactly like the mushroom turnovers I make. Kate told me not to order the roast beef & yorkshire pudding because she was ashamed to serve the yorkshire pudding to anyone. I told her I wouldn’t eat it if it was really terrible. It was. (Dixie - I swear it would bring tears to your eyes). It was more like a hockey puck than a yorkshire pudding. As someone who prides herself on light-as-air yorkshires I was totally appalled. Kate was right. The beef was “ok”. Too well-done for my liking, but the potatoes (mashed and roasted) and green beans were good. Neil had the fish 'n chips and honestly - they’re better from the Yorkshire Fish Shop Window. Anyway - the sticky toffee pudding was absolutely heavenly. Warm and creamy and toffeeish and delicious. (Soundgod, if you read this, I can assure you that I did not detect any dates at all in it). Once again, Neil was right. Lunch was not worth the money.

It was still raining when we lined up for the Candlelight Processional, but because of the reserved seating, we were under the roof and it was warm and dry. I can’t say enough about the CP - so beautiful. The music was wonderful. I love all Christmas music, but there is something special about the old Christmas carols. The lessons were read by a gospel singer - and I’m sorry I do forget his name. Was it Michael Smith? Anyway, he was very good and the whole program put me in the Christmas mood. I’d heartily endorse it to anyone. Even Neil enjoyed it although he said the trumpets made his ears hurt - man- he is SUCH a WUSS!

It was raining too hard to stay for the fireworks (if they even had them that night). Spmeone offered to take a picture of us in the rain - possibly the worst picture anyone ever took of anyone else - ever. But - you can see the rain!

awwwww looks so nice there! i was totally confused by the lack of MK tree a couple years ago. the weird thing too is they had the wreaths up, then took them down the weekend of the parade taping, then put them back up!